Some Advice

[cor2008]

Hi,

Unfortunately 3 of my female cherry barbs died in the space of a week in my fully fishless cycled tank (took just under 4 weeks with added filter media from my local lfs). I went to a different lfs yesterday and got a lot of advice and all the symptoms pointed towards an internal bacterial problem so I purchased a treatment. Yesterday when I put the treatment in the tank the male looked fine but the female looked like she was on her way out. This morning though she looked really healthy again and was feeding & swimming no problem. So fingers crossed.

On impulse yesterday I then bought a 120 litre tank and now plan on using my 60 litre as a sick tank etc etc. My question is whats the best plan to get my new 120 litre going. Do I have to go through another month or two of fishless cycling again???
I have read about putting the filter sponges in my new tank and that way it would be ready cycled. Is this true??

If this is right I am a little worried about contaminating my new tank with what ever is in the old tank? Also in my old tank I used filter sponge and water from the lfs and after a few days into the cycle I noticed 100's of tiny kind of lice looking creatures on the glass of the tank. Since I added the fish to the 60 litre I have kept the water clean, always with ammonia = 0, nitrite = 0 & nitrite about 5ish i think but the litte things are still there, not in the same numbers but still there. I am also worried about introducing these to my new tank (does anyone know if they are harmless). Sorry about the really long story but as I am new to this I just have no idea as to what is the best way forward.

Really appreciate any help. Thanks
Clive

 

[waterdrop]

Interesting question, whether to take mature media from a tank where you suspect that fish died of internal infections. I do not know which disease situations are worried about for that but I believe I have read some threads where some members had advice.

The tiny white things in the previous tank were probably just planaria, a tiny white worm infestation that is harmless and usually doesn't last long. It happens a bit more often in fishless cycling tanks because the water conditions are suited more for bacteria than fish and there are no fish to gobble up the planaria!

Good luck - I hope a member comes along to comment on your question,
~~waterdrop~~

 

[cor2008]

Interesting question, whether to take mature media from a tank where you suspect that fish died of internal infections. I do not know which disease situations are worried about for that but I believe I have read some threads where some members had advice.

The tiny white things in the previous tank were probably just planaria, a tiny white worm infestation that is harmless and usually doesn't last long. It happens a bit more often in fishless cycling tanks because the water conditions are suited more for bacteria than fish and there are no fish to gobble up the planaria!

Good luck - I hope a member comes along to comment on your question,
~~waterdrop~~

Hey Waterdrop thanks for the reply. I feel a bit better about those lice things now anyway. Yea to be honest my head is wrecked from not knowing what to do.. And i thought having some fish might be relaxing

 

[waterdrop]

Don't worry, it will be relaxing. It will be relaxing for as many years as you want it to. The more intensely you learn and prepare for the first 9 months, the more complete and comfortable the following years will be, I'd think.

You of course have the option of a complete separate start with a new fishless cycle and not sharing any of the objects from the old tank, but I hope someone will come along with comments about whether and how your old media might be used for speedup or not.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[cor2008]

Anyone.. desperate to get it right..

 

[cor2008]

As an update I now have 2 cherry barbs left. They were on their way out on monday, the symptoms looked like an internal bacteria problem so I treated the tank with internal bacteria no 9 and they have improved a lot. They are now feeding & swimming but far from perfect. Now yesterday morning I noticed little white spots on their fins. I upped the temp to about 28c over 2 days and put in a small (2 teaspoons of salt over 2 days) amount of aquarium salt in. Im hoping they can make it till monday when I will be able to treat them for white spot.

As to my setting up my 120l problem. The last thing I want to do is infect that tank with all these problems but the second last thing I want to do is go through another long fishless cycle ;-).. On monday i added ammonia to 5. I also added my free bottle of cycle (even though i know it doesnt work). Today ammonia is still 5 (suprise suprise).

So I just dont have a clue whether to risk moving half of my cycled sponge into my new tank or just endure a long cycle without the help of any benefical bacteria.

Anbody got any advice please, my head has been destroyed for days now thinking about what to do...

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds like you have your priorities right. It is safer to start a fresh cycle without the mature filter media than it is to risk contamination. If you can cure the fish and have them stay healthy for a month, it might be worth trying to move some media but by the time you will know it is safe, the new tank could be cycled or very close to it.

 

[whuangs01]

get some Safestart; It will cycle the tank within a week. No need to wait for two months.